Continuous process of coking coal.



No. 705,926. Patented July 29, I902.

J. HEMINGWAY. CONTINUOUS PROCESS OF GOKING COAL.

(Application filed Oct. 21, 1901.)

5 Sheets'-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

Patented July 29, I902.

J. HEMINGWAY. CONTINUOUS PRUCEsS 0F COKING GOAL.

(Application Med Oct. 21, 1901.1

5 Shets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

THE mums I'EYEHS co. PHOTOJJYND WASNINGYUN. q. 1:.

No. 705,926. Patented July 29, I902.

J. HEMINGWAY.

CONTINUOUS PROCESS OF COKING GOAL.

(Application filed Oct. 21, 1901.)

5 Sheets sheet 3.

(No Model.)

vzrsas co. vum'ouwo WASHINGTON,

No. 705,926. Patented July 29, I902.

J. HEMINGWAY.

CONTINUOUS PROCESS OF OOKING COAL.

(Application fi1 ed Oct. 21, 1901.) (N0 Model.) 7 5 Sheets-Sheet 4.

FIG- 4:-

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Patented July 29, I902. J. HEMINGWAY.

CONTINUOUS PROCESS OF COKING COAL.

(Application filed Oct. 21, 1901 5 Sheets Sh'eeQ 5.

(No Model.)

FIG. 5;

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFrcE.

JOSEPH HEMINGWAY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF THREE-FOURTHS TOCURTIS JOEL ROTHERMEL, OF SPRINGVALLEY, MINNESOTA, AND W'ILLIAM EDWINROTHERMEL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CONTINUOUS PROCESS'OF COKING COAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent No. 705,926, dated July 29,1902. Application filed October 21,1901 Serial No. 79.455. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOSEPH HEMIN WAY, a citizen of the United States,residing atChicago, in the county of Cook and State ofIllinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Continuous Processes ofCoking Coal; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in continuous processes for makingmetallurgical coke, and it is especially designed to be used inconnection with what are commonly called non-cokable bituminous orsemibituminous coals-that is to say, coals which will either not coke atall or will produce such an inferior quality of coke that the coals areof no commercial value for the purpose of making coke.

It is well understood, of course, that the anthracite coals or thosecoals which contain practically no volatile constituent, but are 2 5composed of carbon, ash, and other non-volatile impurities, will notcoke, and that, on the other hand, other coals which contain a certainproportion of volatile constituents will coke freely and easily. Thislatter class are bituminous and semibituminous coals, although as amatter of fact prior to myinvention a great many of these coals wouldnot produce a merchantable article of coke, so that for convenience thebituminous and semibituminous coals may be divided into cokable andnon-cokable coals.

Cokable coals are those which become softened when heated to thetemperature of incipient decomposition and which when in a 40 semiviscidor pasty condition will swell into a spongy mass and give of]? bubblesof gas which burn with a bright flame. After the Volatile constituentshave been entirely driven off the results are firm, hard, spongy massesof coke which are very porous and the best grades of which have ametallic luster. Non-cokable coals are those which in burning do notcinder or cake together in any considerable degree and which whenstrongly 5o heated ina closed retort do not fusetogether and unite toform a solid coherent coke. Of course these two classes shade into eachother knowledge has not yet been attained.

by almdst imperceptible degrees of variation, running from the coalswhich readily yield the best quality of coke to those which upon heatingdo not frit together at all or in a very slightdegrce, but yield simplydustand highly friable masses, so that when drawn from the coke-ovensthey will almost crumble to dust.

' 4 The object of my invention is to produce other deleterioussubstances and that it shall be sufficiently firm in texture toWithstand considerable pressure. This last property is perhaps the mostimportant of all from a practical standpoint, as without it coke ispractically useless for metallurgical purposes,and coke which does notpossess this property cannot fairly be termee metallurgical coke. Thevery natural supposition that the fusibility or infusibility of anyvariety of coal, and therefore its value for making coke, must 8o alwaysstand in fixed ratio to its proportional composition is not at all borneout by practice. The property of fusing or not fusing finally depends onthe presence or absence of certain carbon compounds,of which intimateThe analysis of a particular variety of coal will notafford any certainindication as to whether or not it will produce a good article of coke.Actual trial furnishes the, only reliable test. 0 Some coals whichfurnish a first-class article of 'coke contain less than half theproportion of volatile combustible matter which other coals contain thatwill not produce matallurgical coke at all. Neither the proportion of 5fixed carbon in a coal nor the proportion of volatile matter in a coalgives any certain indication of its coking qualities. Many coals,however, which would naturally be expected from their chemical analysisto furnish good Ico coke will when subjected to the coking process frittogether to a slight extent andproduce a very inferior article of coke.The fact, however, that they do produce an inferior coke and that theirchemical analysis would indicate that they oughtt-o be classed amongcoking-coals has given rise to long and expensive experiments, for thereason that the users of the coal thought that there must be somethingwrong in the conditions under which it was attempted to coke thesecoals. I myself have made long and expensive experiments upon thesecoals and have finally discovered a process by which almost all thecoals which contain enough volatile combustible matter to be classedamong coking-coals can be made to yield at a small expense a first-classarticle of coke.

Ido not pretend, of course, that this process is applicable toanthracite coals and there are some bituminous or sembituminous coalswhich either from the fact that they contain a small proportion ofvolatile combustible matter or for some other reason will not yield agood quality of coke; but my process is applicable to the vast majorityof all those bituminous and semibituminous coals and lignites which havehitherto been considered non-cokable. i

My process is especially applicable to the non-anthracitic coals whichoccur in the middle west and far west of the United States. The majorityof these coals occur in the cretaceous formation as distinguished fromthe carboniferons formation, the coals occurring in the latter beingsometimes called true coals. These soft coals from the carboniferousformation usually present but comparatively little difficulty in coking.Such is not the case, however, with the bituminous or semibituminouscoals which occur in the eretaceous formation, and it is to this kind ofcoals that my process is particularly applicable.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate an apparatus adapted tocarry out my process, Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 are side elevations, partlyin section, of my apparatus. These sheets are to be read consecutively.Fig. 5 is a cross-section of the tar-tank, and Fig. 6 is a cross-sectionof the oven structure.

a represents a building or bin into which the coal as brought from themines is discharged and stored. b is a crusher located underneath saidbin and is intended to crush the coal into small fragmentsabout the sizeof rice-grains, for example.

0 is an elevator which delivers the crushed coal into themoistening-chamber d, which is made of iron and of a size to hold abouteighty tons. This moistening-chamber (Z is provided with a steam-jackete, and into the top of the chamber d a hot-water pipe f through a roseor sprinklerg delivers boiling-hot Water in a spray into the chamber.

I have found by experiment that although it is not strictly necessary tomoisten the coal, yet the moistening considerably increases the quantityof the coke, and I have also found that the use of boiling-hot waterincreases the quality of the coke produced in a very marked degree. Ifno Water is used, the tar which is mixed with the coal subsequentlyseems to roll the coal into small lumps, and in these lumps are to befound pieces of coal not moistened at all by the tar. This stream of hotwater entering the chamber 61 is so regulated that about four per cent.,by weight, of water is added to the coal-enough to thoroughly moistenthe coal-so that if left to itself no appreciable amount of water woulddrain off the coal.

It represents a waste-pipe located in the bottom of the chamber d forthe purpose of draining oi the excess of Water, and Z represents a shelfarranged over said waste-pipe to prevent clogging.

h represents a tar-tank into which the tar obtained from the coke-ovens(which are of the by-product variety) is dumped. To keep the tar in thistank in a liquid condition, it is provided with a steam-jackett' and aninternal coil of steam-pipe j.

m represents a scale on the outsideof the tank, a a float-valve in saidtank, and 0 a pointer adapted to travel over the scale, the pointer andfloat-valve being connected bya rope 19, passing over the pulleys q. Itis convenient to make this tank of sucha size that the movement of theindex over the scale of the space of one foot will deliver enough tar totreat, say, five tons of coal, which is the ordinary charge for abee-hive oven, and it may be arranged that the index will ring a bellafter it has traveled over one division of the scale.

1" represents a delivery-pipe for the tar,

which pipe is provided with a hand-valve 8.-

This pipe delivers into a mixer t, to which the coal is deliveredfromthe chamber r1 on the withdrawal of the sliding valve T6. The mixer 25is large enough to take in one chargethat is to say, five tons ofcoaland'the mixer itself consists of a drum provided with a hinged coverand with internal projections or spear-heads '0, mounted on a centralshaft w, which shaft is provided with stirring-arms w, the drum andshaft being revolved in different directions by means of power appliedto the pulley y and the rope-pulley 2.

The amount of tar to be mixed with a charge of coal varies, ofcourse,with the particular coal under treatment. No definite rule can belaid down; but for the coals obtained from this vicinity with which Ihave been experimenting ten per cent, by weight, of tar is about theright quantity.

One curious fact that has developed in the course of my experiments isthat notwithstanding the coal under treatment contains within itselfenough tar and other volatile substances to apparently cause the fixedcarbon in the coal to agglutinate together and form a good article ofcoke, these volatile substances, including the tar, will 'not producethe desired result. For example, I took one lot of coal, weighing aboutfive tons, and

attempted to coke it by itself. The experiment failed utterly as far asthe coking was concerned, the result being a loose pulverulent mass; butabout fifteenper cent. oftar was obtained. This tar was then mixed withanother charge of five tons of coal taken from the same seam, and theresult was a fine article of coke and about twenty per cent. of tar,showing that the coal had in itself more than enough tar to cause thefixed carbon to agglutinate together and form coke.

After the moistened coal and tar have been thoroughly mixed togetherthey are carried by the elevator 1 into the storage-chamber 2, fromwhich chamber they are either delivered into cars 3 or a spiral conveyer4 is made, if desired, by means of which they are conveyed to the ovens5, which are of the usual type. These ovens are shown in Fig. 3 and alsoin cross-section in Fig. 6. They are provided with the usual dampers 7for the admission of air, and they discharge into a jacketed hydraulicmain 8.

9 indicates a pipe connecting the several ovens with the hydraulic main,and each of these pipes is provided with a valve 10.

All the volatile constituents resulting from the coking operation gointo the hydraulic main 8 and thence into condenser 11.

12 represents a valve-pipe connected to the lower part of the hydraulicmain and leading into the main tar-chamber 13. The pipes in thecondenser deliver into the usual tank 14, provided with partitions 15,which tank is connected by an overflow-pipe 16 with the main tar-tank13. A pipe 17, provided with a valve 18, also connects the tanks 13 and14. The tar, ammoniacal liquor, &c., are nearly all deposited in thetank 14. The gas after passing through a scrubber is delivered into thegasometer. This scrubber consists of two upright columns 19 and 20,closed at the bottom by screens 21 and filled with lime or coke or amixture of the two. A valve-pipe 22 delivers hot water to the top ofthese columns 19 and 20. A suction-fan 23 draws the gas up through thecolumn 19 and down through the column 20 and delivers it into thegasometer 24,from which a delivery-pipe conducts the gas to any desiredpoint for consumption, and more especially to the boilers 26 and 27, bymeans of pipes 28 and 29.

Many varieties of soft coal and lignites will furnish enough gas todevelop all the power required in the whole process.

30 represents a steam-pipe connected with the boilers, which furnishesthe steam required for heating the chamber (:1 and tank h for drivingthe tar and water pumps, as well as the elevators, crushers, mixers, andcon veyers, and is connected with the pump 31, which draws hot waterthrough the pipe 32 from one or both of the boilers. This pipe 32connects with the pipe 33, and by means of the valves 34 and 35 it mayalso be used to pump cold water into the boilers.

36 is a subsidiary hot-water pipe connected pipe, which delivers hotwater to the chamber d.

38 represents a tar-pump supplied with steam from the pipe 30 by thepipe 39. It

draws the tar from the tank 13 by means of the pipe 40 and forces thetar through the pipe 41 into the tank 77..

The operation is obvious from the description. The coal is received fromthe railwaytrain,is crushed, moistened with boiling-hot water, mixedwith a certain per cent. of coaltar, which percentage is determined byprevious experiment upon the particular coal in question, and deliveredinto the coke-ovens, where it is subjected to the coking operation, thevolatile by-products passing into the hydraulic main. The gas afterbeing purified is led into a gasometer, from whence it is drawn asdesired to be used as a fuel, and the tar is dumped back again and mixedwith a sufficient charge of coal. Thus the whole operation iscontinuous, the tar from one charge being drawn back to moisten the nextsucceeding charge, 850. I have found by experiment that a very largenumber of coals hitherto considered non-cokable could be success fullyand cheaply coked by my process.

While I have described my invention and the apparatus I have used incarrying it out, I wish it to be distinctly understood that it could becarried out by many different forms of apparatus and that I do not limitmyself to any particular apparatus or to the exact details described.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. The continuous process of making metallurgical coke, which consistsin pulverizing bituminous or semibituminous coal, mixing it with aboutfour per cent. of Water and about ten. per cent. of coal-tar, chargingthe coking-ovens with said mixture, and distilling it, substantially asdescribed.

2. The continuous process of making metallurgical coke, which consistsin pulverizing bituminous or semibituminous coal, mixing it with aboutfour per cent. of boiling-hot water, mixing the moistened mass withabout ten per cent. of coal-tar, charging the cokingovens with saidmixture, distilling it, and returning the heavy portion of thedistillate containing tar, pitch and similar substances (mixed with afresh charge of coal moistened with hot water) into the coking-ovensduring the coking operation, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH HEMINGWAY.

WVitnesses:

A. L. BRUSH, T. B. HORTEN.

